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The Houston Astros celebrates after Alex Bregman game winning single during Game 5 of baseball's World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, in Houston. Astros won 13-12. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

John Smallwood

STAFF COLUMNIST

John Smallwood has been on our staff since 1994. He began as the beat writer for Villanova University basketball and was promoted to columnist in 1995. He has won several awards while covering almost every major sporting event, including the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, Final Four, World Cup and Olympics. His focus now is on writing Philly.com's Sports Tonight columns.

Gallery:

It was just a year ago that the Chicago Cubs ended 108 years of frustration by beating the Cleveland Indians in 10 innings in Game 7.

Bill Mazeroski’s hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 to win the 1960 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates wouldn’t have been nearly as iconic had it simply completed a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees.

Still, no matter who wins Game 6 at 8 tonight on FOX, if this battle between the Houston Astros and the host Los Angeles Dodgers is another wacky dramafest, it will end or extend one of the more entertaining Fall Classics ever.

If you’re a fan of the Astros, who lead 3-2, or the Dodgers’ arch-rival, the San Francisco Giants, you want this over tonight. A victory would take Houston off the list of eight franchises that have never won a World Series in their current city. Established as the Houston Colt .45s in 1962, the Astros are the oldest of that grouping.

The Dodgers want to push it to a Game 7 to avoid joining the Yankees with an MLB-record 13 World Series losses.

The difference is that the Yankees also have a record 27 championships, and the Dodgers have just six.

Antetokounmpo shows what’s possible for Simmons

If you want a look at how the Sixers ultimately hope Ben Simmons as a 6-10 primary ball-handler works out, check out the Milwaukee Bucks when they play the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8 tonight on NBA TV.

Bucks rising superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is listed as the power forward on the depth chart as his 6-11 frame would predict, but he leads Milwaukee with 34.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists through six games.

Last season, Antetokounmpo was a first-time All-Star and led the Bucks in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.

Simmons is averaging 18.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists through his first seven NBA games.

In center Joel Embiid, the Sixers have a primary force inside that the Bucks don’t, so Simmons might not lead the team in scoring and/or rebounding the way that Antetokounmpo does, but that’s not his role.

Still, the point is that “The Greek Freak” has already shown that the “Wonder from Down Under” can work as a primary playmaker in the NBA.

John Sleezer/Kansas City Star

Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian scrambles under pressure against the Chiefs on Monday night.

The trade deadline in the NFL is rarely a game-changer as it can be in MLB, the NBA and the NHL, but moves can be made that indicate a team is going for a title. Columnist Mike Sielski writes on the one the Eagles made.

The Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins have already had their seasons jeopardized because of injuries to their quarterbacks. Staff writer Les Bowen says the Eagles’ offensive lineman, running backs and quarterback Carson Wentz need to do better to ensure the Birds do not join that list.

Danica Patrick made history as a female Formula One and then NASCAR racer, but ultimately, she hasn’t been successful over the last seven years and now contemplates retirement.

Aaron Gash / AP

How long will Jahlil Okafor remain with the Sixers?

The riff

Perhaps some team will come in late to bail out the Sixers by offering the “equal value” they want for under-the-doghouse center Jahlil Okafor.

Before the NBA offices close today, the Sixers can still offer Okafor a $6.3 million option for his fourth season to ensure he will be a restricted free agent going into 2018-19, but considering they’ve already picked up the $2.5 million option on Justin Anderson who came from Dallas in the Nerlens Noel deal, their intentions for Okafor aren’t hard to see.

That doesn’t make a lot of sense because not qualifying Okafor would lower his value more, if that is possible.

There is no question that Okafor is not the player many, including I, anticipated when the Sixers drafted him No.3 overall in 2015. Still, the 21-year-old has averaged 14.7 points and 6.0 rebounds through his first two drama-plagued seasons. Those are better numbers than every other 2015 lottery pick except for Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis and Devin Booker.

The Sixers systematically lowered Okafor’s value. Now, they might as well let him walk as an unrestricted free agent after the season and get nothing.

Their screw-ups with Okafor are well documented. They might as well complete the job.